As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems typically include multiple or redundant power supply units as a failsafe for power system malfunction. Power supply units may perform a variety of functions, such as, but not limited to, power conversion, alternating current to direct current (AC-DC) or DC-DC conversion, adjusting voltage levels, and/or providing backup power during power grid outages. Power supply states are typically referred to as “active” and “sleep”. Active power supplies are those power supplies that are delivering power to an end system. A sleep state refers to a power supply state, for which the power supply is in a suspended state of operation. In a sleep state the supply is functional but not providing power to the end system. Generally active power supplies consume more power and thus run warmer compared to inactive power supplies. The lifespan of a power supply unit corresponds to watt-hours processed and relative environmental conditions. As a result, the more power an active power supply provides, the shorter the lifespan. Therefore the lifespan of an active power supply unit is shortened when compared to its sleeping counterpart. Conventional “hot or warm spare” solutions typically require half, or N/2 where N is the total number of power supply units in a system, of the power supply units to remain active at any given time in order to ensure availability during fault conditions. As a result, redundant power supply units of an information handling system may be placed in a “sleep” or “suspended” state for long periods of time, which can result in an imbalanced lifespan or expectancy of the power supply system as a whole. Furthermore, in some chassis systems where power supply units are connected via slots it is left to the user to perform a slot designation change (e.g., to a setting of either “active” or “sleep”). Consequently once a slot designation is changed by a user, the tendency is to leave the setting unchanged after the initial adjustment, thereby contributing to more life expectancy imbalance of the power supply system.